The Lonely Dog by Thomas Rochester

THE LONELY DOG

Above all i would like to be,
With the other dogs i see,

I long to hear my owners call,
My eyes well, like leaves i fall,

Slowly stretching to the ground,
They dont mean not to care, i've found,

They just seem to rush on by,
Whats the hurry? I wonder why,

They keep on passing through my front door,
Take no notice of me, they just ignore,

Why dont they look at my warm face,
I can not wait to find my place,

Above all i want to be,
like the other dogs i see,

I spy them through my steel gate,
I'll be there soon, it is my fate,

Fields of green is what i see,
The sky above, their running free.

2 Stories from 66b

Story 1.

Frog always spent his Sunday morning relaxing at the far edge of the pond on the lily pads. It was the only time Frog had to unwind from a busy week of hopping about aimlessly. Frog would think about how his life seemed to be going so fast and that it seemed only yesterday that he was a tadpole.
One particular Sunday as Frog was making his way towards his favourite lily pad he realised it was occupied by a toad, Frog’s arch enemy. Frog challenged the toad to a fight to get his lily pad back. Out of nowhere however more toads appeared and Frog realised he was completely outnumbered. Quickly Frog turned and hopped away as fast he could followed by twenty angry toads. Eventually Frog managed to lose the horde of toads by hiding behind a large tree trunk.
Frog realised he could never go back to his favourite spot at the far edge of the pond on the lily pads. A tear fell from his eye and was lost amongst the morning dew.

Story 2. Eds Pelican Story

Sanchez the pelican flew. He didn’t know where he was going, nor what he would do when he got there. His wings beat the air. He didn’t know where he had been, nor what he had been doing there. Sanchez didn’t care. He was a pelican, and pelicans don’t care. He flew on, and reached his destination.

Little Grey Rabbit by Caroline

When I was young my favourite stories were the 'little Grey Rabbit' books by Alison Utterley, [I'm not sure if that's how you spell her surname]. They were about a little Rabbit who lived in a tiny cottage in the woods with a Hare and a squirrel. They were dressed in clothes and had taken on human characteristics and little Grey Rabbit usually wore a blue dress or a blue apron ove ra grey dress and Hare wore a tweed jacket and checked trousers and squirrel usually wore a yellow dress ii think. Little Grey Rabbit was very kiind and looked after Hare and Squirrel, who wre rather lazy and selfish and made Nettle tea and cakes for them and her other animal friends.
Everyday a milkman who was a hedgehog delivered milk to them in wooden pails; his name was Fuzzypeg. He wore a light brown jacket and had a red and white striped scarf around his neck. He had a son who was a miniature version of him.
There was also a wise Owl not disimilar to the Owl in Winnie the Pooh, who used to warn them if there was ever any danger by flying by and saying 'Te-wit te-woo'.
On the other side of the wood where little Grey Rabbit lived, there was a much wilder bit of wood. She and her friends never ventured into this part of the wood because that was where the Weasels and Stoats lived and they were very dishonest and agressive and a thoroughly bad lot altogether. Little Grey rabbit would always warn the children against them emphasising how untrustworthy they were.
In one particular story I remember that the Weasels and Stoats decided to band together, take up arms ,and to attack Little Grey Rabbit and her friends. The illustrations of them with sticks and spears in their hands, marching towards Little Grey Rabbit's cottage was very frightening I remember.
I can't remember exactly what happened but I do remember that Hare who was rather a cowardly, namby-pamby character in the other books, somehow saved the day and sent the Weasels and Stoats packing.
I really loved their little animal world; it seemed really real to me. I used to go for walks with my mum and brother and sister on sundays in a lovely park called South Weald. It was a huge stretch of beautiful unspoilt countryside just outside Brentwood in Essex.
In the middle of the park on the edge of a bit of woodland there was a little cotage that looked just like Little Grey Rabbit's house and I always imagined, almost believed, that she was there making nettle tea for all the others and wanted to knock on the door and invite myself for tea too.

I don't know how much of this is accurate as I've lost the one book i had. {Julie knowing how much I'd loved the stories gave me a copy as my 18th birthday present].

Champ's Flower

Champ’s Flower


Never before was there a chimp like Champ. He had lustrous chocolate fur
adorned with lashings of ginger orange above his waist. His friends seemed to revel in comparing him to a half-peeled choc orange, minus the blue seal of
course. Some had even gone so far as to nibble at the chocolatey bits, always inviting wild applause, which Champ gratefully received. He was quite the
showman, and had amassed a veritable harem of female admirers, who often surrounded him and caressed his fur before plucking away all the tasty nits. Unsurprisingly he was the cleanest chimp in town. Yes, Champ had a
splendid life, and didn’t care who knew it. This is his story.

Perfect!
It was 38 degrees in the sun and Champ was sun-bleaching himself up atop a neatly crafted boulder that protruded out from the centre of the lake. The
eastward breeze rippled his fur and caressed his reflection on the water’s silky surface.

‘Aah’ moaned Champ in rapture as he beheld the portrait of beauty that
winked back at him. The rhythmic ‘swish’ of the water against the rock
absorbed him totally and his heart swelled in tune with the tide... Year after
year passed and Champ remained fixed to that spot.

------------------------------------------------
Champ’s skeleton still lies face down, locked in place, and locked in time. Its seaweed-striped structure a cautionary motif against self obsession. The Monkey-Puzzle Tree is so named for Champ, who never knew his own reflection.

1st Story about Zone 15

I am a Night Time Zookeeper. I was in zone 15 of the Zoo when I came across a very peculiar sight. I was standing on the top of a very tall mountain next to a tree and a caldron full of elephant dung. (This magical substance, although smelly, does allow you to travel through space and time.) I was looking out at a bank of cloud that looked like a giant wave. The cloud was more than a mile long and was gracefully gliding across the green landscape in front of me. I was looking down on this massive cloud from the height of the mountain when suddenly I heard the thunder of hoofs behind me. I turned around and saw a herd of hurried Heffalumps charging up the steep mountain slope. I climbed the tree and then I watched a miraculous sight. As each of the Hurried Heffalump Herd reached the top of the mountain they leapt off! I then watched as they landed on the crest of the cloud and glided on it as if surfing. I was witnessing a herd of hurried Heffalumps surfing! What is a hurried herd of Heffalumps you may ask? Well I maybe the only Night Time Zookeeper in the world who can tell you. A Hurried Herd of Heffalump surfers exist in only two places; in the mind of a tiny bear named Pooh and on the surfing clouds of the GREAT sky that rises forever up from this dark earth.

Zone 15

Welcome to the blog of Zone 15! This Zone is one of 36 that I will eventually be setting up. Each blog will represent a square on a board game I am creating. The squares on the board represent different areas of a Zoo. The game involves the players taking on the role of Night Time Zookeepers. They have to move around the zoo and look after the animals in each zone. This is the blog for Zone 15 of the zoo. So when the players land on the square on the board that represents Zone 15 of the zoo they will look at this blog and read the stories about the animals that inhabit the zoo. I am asking people to submit, via email, stories and images about the animals they think could inhabit this zone of the zoo. I will then post these ideas on the blog so that the players can learn about the area of the zoo they are in. Please post comments of suggestions about the stories and images and engage in dialogue about what possible rules the players would have to abide by if they landed in this Zone. So instead of having to move backwards three spaces, perhaps because there are lots of dangerous animals in the zone the players have to whisper until they leave the zone. If you want to get involved please take note of my email address and email me you ideas so I can post them up. This is a trial blog but, as I say, eventually I will set up blogs for each of the zones. The board game will be available to purchase sometime in the future. To learn more about the ideas behind the Zoo, please follow the link to the blog 'The Night Time Zookeeper'.